Treehugger’s Lament
Lament 1. n. a passionate expression of grief; elegy. 2. v.i. & t. Utter 1. (for, over); express or feel grief about, be distressed at, (p.p.) mourned for
This whaling
of trees/flailing harpoons as/
the pines take a dive/then flensing/the machines/
the shrieks & the chains/furrowing ruts
dragging/ & the squealing hoists
apathetic, smoking/
It’s all about the machines
/blasting cores/automated botanicide
spasmodic earthworms & despair of the doves
Politician comments/”those Giant Sequoias- they all look alike”/
It’s all about the pulp
/the Ancients trembling/naked, exposed stumps bleeding
sap/
It’s all about the paper
explode/the severed connections/raining particles
/heaving mounds of discarded limbs
& the smell, the smell
/oil/gas/sweat/sap/green death death death
It’s not about the trees
/in the eerie silence/hands clapped to ears
/their voicelessness/is deafening
[this is a work in progress]
March 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am
this reminds me of Gary Snyder’s works on logging.
are the slashes here meant to depict line breaks?
March 9th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
hi Christopher,
As usual, you do me great honour by mentioning Gary Snyder – the slashes are me playing with the form, I’m using them to increase the visual impact of the slashing/cutting/destroying words in the poem. But, it is an unfinished piece as yet, so I have to work out the logical use of these marks. Always happy to get a comment, thanks!
March 10th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
The slashes have a really vivid effect. Especially where there’s relief from them, like the earth worms and doves line then back in to the politician comments. Gives me a real vivid dream like horror of feeling that silence of the trees. I think that last line would be better without the slashes. Like the commentary as relief. The commentary is like feeling and where there’s slashes it has an effect of concepts hitting together too fast to feel more then shock.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Hi Josh,
Thanks for your comments! I especially appreciate your observation about the last line, which I have been wondering about myself, still working on it – but I will definitely re-post with some changes, including your suggestion. Having witnessed first-hand the horror of a brutal logging operation in an area I have loved since childhood, my reaction to it was the catalyst for this poem. Cheers!